Our septuagenarian mother (diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year) is currently eating one gallon of ice cream every 2 to 3 days. How have other families helped restrict / limit intake to reduce her risk of obesity, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, dental caries, etc? It is her one joy in life so we also don't want to take that away from her.
Yes, I believe I would want my food restricted unless my checkout time was looming very near.
I know what it's like to have been morbidly obese. With mobility issues this is going to cause a lot more pain and suffering than a little dietary restriction.
I was a homecare worker for 25 years. Let me tell you thin people with mobility issues and incontinence who don't have dementia are hard enough to keep clean and dry. Even with the best and most frequent hygiene care they still get skin breakdown, fungal skin infections, incontinence sores, UTI's, and yeast infections.
Add obesity to the job and the odds of getting these conditions really increase and hygiene care becomes impossible in private residence. Many times size is rhe deciding factor of why a person gets placed in facility care versus being kept in their home.
So yes, I'd rather have calorie restriction and die in my beautiful home then be allowed to stuff myself with ice cream in a nursing home.
as long as she isn’t diabetic or has some other health issue where sugar and fat could be a problem.
if she is otherwise healthy then let her have ice cream. If you are concerned about the amount, then maybe try to control the portions. You can buy ice cream bars or portion out the ice cream. She may want more than 1 serving but I believe in the end she will eat Less.
Its very easy to eat a tub of ice cream that’s just staring at you in the freezer. All you need is a spoon and you can go to town and eat it all without thinking.
Let her have it. It what makes her happy and just don’t keep ice cream in half gallons. Portion it out.
so without it, no joy? Then let her have her ice cream.
When my father was slowly dying, we tried to keep him healthy. I was filling him full of sprouted green, lentil soup. all in the hope he would recover. He didn't . he loved ice cream. we let him have it rarely because it is so unhealthy. I don't think that it would have made a spot of difference.. only that he would have been happy in some way. Maybe less angry and abusive at least.
I know it is hard, but her life is never going to come back so now, sit with her and have ice cream, find the tasty healthier ones if it makes you feel better but her freedom to choose her life is over now, this is all she can choose.